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These checkpoints are so stupid. KCMO Police has conducted 18 DUI checkpoints in the last 20 weeks. The arrest rate for DUI at these checkpoints has been between 2 and 3% going back for the last 5 years. The checkpoints are having somewhere near zero deterrent effect. Keep in mind, the police get to pick the time, place, and date. So on the worst day of the year, at the worst time, in the worst spot, 2-3% of people are driving under the influence. Then factor in that "under the influence" doesn't necessarily mean drunk.
What the checkpoints have done is give the department a basis to buy new toys, including a "Mobile Command Post" that cost $400,000.00. The checkpoints also serve as a fantastic way to get KCPD officers overtime and court time pay.
The checkpoints usually find several people driving on a revoked/suspended license or with some unpaid parking tickets, and a little bit of revenue is generated from that.
But the checkpoints really only do any social good if you think it is really a good idea to give the police department a way to set its own budget, even if it bankrupts the city. And that is before you start talking about "papers please" and the argument that American citizens shouldn't have to put up with this kind of crap. Or the fact that people who assert the few rights they have left at these checkpoints often get the crap beat out of them or tazed "for their own safety."
Drinking and driving is bad, but I'm convinced the checkpoints are worse.
Follow @kccheckpoint on twitter. It is really eye opening to see on a given Friday/Saturday night how many checkpoints there are, and how futile and pointless they seem to be when the results get released on Monday morning.
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